


Living Down to Expectations

by LitGal



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Episode: s05e20 Enemy at the Gate, F/M, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 12:57:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/992247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LitGal/pseuds/LitGal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney decides to do a little research in order to improve his love life. He finds that his experiment is yielding data he would rather not know. It's John who has to pick up the pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Living Down to Expectations

John leaned over the console and peered into the crystal controls while Rodney glared. There was no way John could understand any of the work, so he was just trying to be annoying. Trying and succeeding.

“What?” Rodney snapped.

“Whatcha doing?”

“Working.”

“Uh-huh.” John didn’t even bother pretending to believe him.

“I am. I am working. See, there is work being done.”

John sighed. “Rodney, we’re back on the clock, and you are officially clocked out, which means all work is over for you. You got the IOC memo on overtime, correct? They don’t want the civilians filing class action suits for unpaid overtime.”

“Idiots.” Rodney pulled out another crystal.

“I’m not disagreeing, but we’re on Earth now.

“And?” Rodney kept working.

“And why are you messing with the internal sensors to the living quarters?”

Rodney pulled his head out from under the console to look at John. Every once in a while, he forgot that the man had actual brains under all the hair. “I’m upgrading.”

“You’re upgrading Ancient technology?” Not only did John’s voice sound pretty damn skeptical, but he raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine.” Rodney slammed his extraction tool down on the floor. “I am conducting research.”

“Research?” John echoed.

“Yes, research. Now go away. Annoy someone else.”

“But I like annoying you,” John said with one of those smirks of his. Rodney considered giving up for the day, but Jennifer’s best friend was visiting after finally getting clearance, and this was the best chance to get useful data for his theory. Besides, John would never sell him out. Rodney slid the final crystal into place and attached the wire harness designed to transmit the signal to a human speaker.

When Jennifer’s voice came out of the speaker, John stood up straight. “Oh, this is not a good idea,” he said in that tone of voice he normally used to suggest that cooperating with a wraith was not a good idea or trusting the Genii was not a good idea.

“Shush,” Rodney hushed him. Both John’s eyebrows went up, but he did, in fact, hush.

Jennifer and Allie were talking about the city resources. Allie had been in medical school with Jennifer, so that was a reasonable direction for the conversation. Rodney stood and grabbed a chair as he tried to ignore all the blithering about medical equipment. The way those two talked, you’d think medicine was a real science. Not even. You gave a person a medicine, and one got better while the other didn’t. There was no logic to that. None. Medicine was not real science, and Rodney was not changing his mind about that, although he had learned to keep his mouth shut about it.

John came and sat in the chair next to him, watching him while Rodney watched the speaker. “This is not going to end well.”

“It’s research.”

“It’s eavesdropping, and if she catches you, you’re going to suffer.”

Rodney rolled his eyes. “She knows I have trouble figuring this stuff out, and how else am I supposed to gather data on what she wants or likes?”

“Oh, I don’t know. She seems pretty quick to tell you right to your face, and I think this is something she’d disapprove of.”

“Shut up or go away,” Rodney said as Jennifer and Allie turned to more interesting topics, namely him.

“That is not what I had in mind when you said you were dating the head of science,” Allie said, her Maine accent sounding somehow alien. Rodney had definitely spent too much time in another galaxy when thoughts like that popped into his head.

“Rodney’s sweet.”

“If you like cactus,” Allie shot right back.

Rodney shifted uncomfortably. Yes, yes. He made a bad first impression on people. He knew this.

“He’s very brave. He’s on a first contact team, you know, and he’s a lot more fit than you would think to look at him.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Rodney could see John flinch. How nice. John was embarrassed for him. Well Rodney didn’t need to look like some male model. His strength was in the power of his mind, and if other parts suffered a little, well that was certainly no worse than John refusing to finish his math PhD just because he had to run around playing soldier all the time. Rodney’s priorities were far more reasonable, even if it meant that on first glance, John might appear to be the better catch.

“He’s not horrible,” Allie finally conceded. “I just… I expected something else.”

“He’s amazingly intelligent, and he really is charming in his own graceless way.”

Rodney smiled as she rose to his defense. Now he just needed some hints, something that would make it clear what he should be doing or buying in order to keep her. He opened his laptop and prepared to take notes.

“Graceless is the word. He didn’t even look at me when Mr. Woolsey introduced me. Until your name came up, I wasn’t sure he had even noticed that he was having a conversation.”

Jennifer laughed. “He’s like that. He has so much on his mind that sometimes things slip right past him. You have to grab him and tell him to pay attention, but the nice thing is that he will. I mean, there are men who insist on doing their own thing no matter what you want, and Rodney always listens. It’s so nice to not have all that macho bullshit to wade through.”

“I’m in favor of less macho bullshit,” Allie said with a sigh. “That colonel of yours was about to get a swift kick in the nuts. Does he flirt with everyone like that or should I be looking into a sexual harassment suit?”

This time Rodney flinched before he looked over at John. While John’s lips were twisted with displeasure, he just shrugged his shoulders.

“Colonel Sheppard flirts with everyone, men and women. Don’t take him seriously,” Jennifer said. “He has the curse of attractive men.” The two women laughed as if this were some old joke. It probably was.

“And here I thought you were going to be the one to hear unpleasant truths,” John said in disgust.

“They’re just being honest.”

“Gee, thanks,” John said with disgust.

“If the shoe fits, Kirk,” Rodney shot right back. John tried to answer, but Rodney held up his hand as the women started to talk again.

“Rodney doesn’t have the curse.”

“Because he’s not attractive,” Allie pointed out. Again, Rodney already knew this about himself.

“He’s adorable,” Jennifer disagreed. When Jennifer jumped to his defense, he could feel a desperate need to make her as happy as she made him. “When he gets that crooked smile on his face… that does it for me. When we were in his friend’s private jet and I invited him to join the mile-high club, you should have seen his face light up with joy. He was the sweetest thing ever.”

John backhanded Rodney across the arm. “You’re in the mile high club? Way to go McKay!”

“Shhhh.”

“His friend has a jet?” Allie demanded. The greedy little hussy probably thought he was more attractive now, Rodney thought to himself. It might not be fair to judge her, but he was enjoying it anyway.

“He was superrich, and he’s not half as smart as Rodney. You watch, when Rodney’s work is declassified, he’s going to collect so much on patents and get so much money for giving a lecture that it’s going to be obscene.”

“Obscene?”

“Utterly obscene,” Jennifer said firmly.

“And what if they don’t declassify any of this until after he’s dead? I work with the Army on research, and it took forever to clear me, and even then, I suspect I’m not cleared to hear the really juicy details. Well, at least the ones that aren’t part of your love life. God I’m jealous of you. I never do anything but work. The last relationship I had, Shawn was an ass about the hours I spent working at the same time that my boss was an ass about how often I refused overtime.”

“Okay, first, if he doesn’t get famous, that’s fine,” Jennifer said. Rodney felt a knot of worry untie in his chest. “He’s still Rodney, and he’s sweet and smart. And I don’t have to worry about Rodney playing those mind games with me. He works so much that he never makes me feel guilty about the hours I put in. Allie, it’s amazing. I can work when I want, and when I want time with him, I only have to go and get him.”

“Like playing fetch?”

Jennifer laughed. “Boyfriend fetch. I mean, sometimes he truly is too busy, but most of the time, he’ll put his work on hold. Do you have any idea how special it makes me feel when he puts his own work aside to spend time with me?”

Rodney turned and poked John in the arm. “See, this is a great idea. I didn’t know that mattered to her. And she really loves her job in the pseudosciences, so I should give her presents related to her voodoo doctoring.”

“You could promise to stop calling it voodoo, that would be a good present,” John suggested.

Rodney waved him off. “I already stopped saying it in front of her.”

John sighed. “One step at a time. One step at a time.”

“Stop blathering.” Rodney frowned because it sounded like Allie had mentioned Ronon.

“… wouldn’t work,” Jennifer finished. Rodney gave John a nasty glare for distracting him from the good bits. Rodney wanted to hear why Ronon wouldn’t work, why Rodney was the better man. That alone would make up for all the grumbling and shoulder shoves he’d endured since he’d won Jennifer’s affection. Ronon was a poor loser, not that Rodney was surprised.

“Why not? You said he was gorgeous and still managed to avoid the macho bullshit.”

“Can you imagine going down the street with Ronon? You saw him.” Jennifer’s voice had that incredulous tone that implied that she considered the issue pretty obvious.

John reached for the speaker’s off button, but Rodney slapped his hand away.

Allie laughed. “I’d go down the street with him any day.”

“Fine, then you can have him,” Jennifer snapped.

“Hey, no need to get all bitchy. Shit, what’s wrong, Jen?”

The silence wrapped around Rodney’s heart and squeezed it. Something was wrong. John shifted in his seat, and Rodney pointed a finger at him. “Touch the speaker and I will make all your hair fall out.”

“No need for violence,” John said, raising his hands in surrender. But then the women were talking again, and Rodney didn’t have time to worry about John’s overprotective streak. This wasn’t the truth Rodney had expected, but he was a scientist. He didn’t abandon research simply because it took him to truths he hadn’t expected.

“My father would have a fit if I showed up on his doorstep with Ronon.”

“He’s not a racist,” Allie said.

“No, but he has certain expectations. Rodney fits them better, and I really like Rodney.”

“But you really like Ronon more?” Allie asked.

Rodney held his breath.

“No… I like him differently. I mean, when he kisses me, it’s like being at the center of the universe, and I don’t have to ask him to hold my hand or pay attention.”

Rodney felt his face heat with embarrassment. He’d tried to be better—he honestly had. He knew he wasn’t the world’s best catch. What had Jeannie told him? That he was no John Sheppard? Well, he knew that. But he’d put everything into making sure that Jennifer was always happy. He charted how many times she responded positively to various stimuli, including calling her, taking her to lunch, and randomly appearing in the infirmary just to talk. He understood her in a way he’d never understood Katie Brown because he hadn’t put the proper amount of energy into researching Katie.

“Rodney doesn’t make you feel that way. How long can this last?”

“Forever,” Jennifer said firmly. “What I have with Rodney is comfortable and it makes me happy. He’s sweet and smart and perfect.”

“Perfect?” Allie’s tone made her opinion on that clear.

“He’s perfect for me,” Jennifer said firmly. “He’s everything I always said I wanted. He’s stable and he doesn’t try to overpower me or ask me to put my career second to his.”

“And your father will like him more?”

“Yes, okay, he will. But there’s nothing inherently wrong about choosing a mate that will make your life easier rather than more difficult,” Jennifer said. “And I’m not talking about this. Yes, Ronon is the dangerous, exciting type…”

“Who also respects you as a doctor and makes you feel like the center of his world,” Allie added. Rodney swallowed as he mentally started categorizing the new data he’d collected. Rodney often missed subtext, but even he couldn’t miss the implications present in the idea that his girlfriend called him “comfortable” and said that he was everything she “said” she wanted.

Jennifer made an unhappy little noise that Rodney knew well. “You’re being impossible. Anyway, I wanted to show you the upper level balconies.” The voices trailed off, and then Rodney could hear the door in Jennifer’s quarters. The women had dropped off their bags and they were leaving. At some point, Jennifer would bring her closest friend to his lab to show off her brilliant boyfriend, the one who didn’t excite her. But hey, her father would like Rodney more than he would Ronon, so what did it matter if it was pretty clear that he was second string in Jennifer’s opinion?

The speaker gave off a quiet static, and John reached out and turned it off. “Rodney?”

Rodney waved him off. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Rodney,” John repeated.

“No. No, it objectively does not matter. She recognizes that I am the better choice for her.” But how long would Rodney be the better choice? If she was following logic and not madly in love with him, how long would it take for her to notice that someone else was even better suited to her? To be honest, Rodney wasn’t actually perfect for anyone, and he had counted on love to be the wildcard in the equation. Love would make numbers balance even when they didn’t, and her love for him would make it all work.

Rodney started to stand, but he lost his balance and ended up sitting back down so hard that his teeth clicked. John was there, standing next to him with a hand on his shoulder. “Hey buddy,” John said gently. Rodney closed his eyes.

“Yes, great. I get to be humiliated in front of an audience.”

John sighed. “Rodney, they called me cursed and suggested I was a loser who hit on all the women.”

Rodney curled up a lip.

“And if you agree, I’m taking you to sparring practice with Teyla,” he threatened.

“I didn’t say I agreed,” Rodney said. “Yes, you hit on all the women, but anyone who calls you a loser is clearly mentally deficient, and that is why I don’t trust medical degrees. They allow any moron to earn one.”

“That’s the best compliment I’ve had all day,” John said. “Come on, they have a transport heading out in an hour. I’m buying you a beer.”

“I have work,” Rodney said, waving at his equipment.

“The IOC banned overtime, remember?” John asked.

Rodney just looked at him. He had too many variables all floating in his head, and he was desperately trying to find any way to make them all fit into any equation other than the obvious one.

John got a hand under Rodney’s arm. “Come on, buddy. The first beer’s on me,” he said. Maybe Rodney was just too tired to argue because he allowed John to pull him out of the lab. In a few hours, Jennifer would come up here to show off Rodney and his lab, and he wouldn’t be here. Rodney raised his chin and walked beside John without needing to be half-dragged. After a few steps, John gave him a smile and draped a hand across his shoulders. “So,” John asked, “how do you feel about pool?”

“I could kick your ass,” Rodney said, and it wasn’t an idle boast. He understood the mathematics and he had had the steady hands to follow through.

“Well then, let’s gang up and fleece a few suckers into placing some bets.” John gave Rodney his devil-may-care look—the one that inevitably got them put in a cell on whatever planet they were visiting at the time.

Rodney nodded. “Deal,” he said. Teyla would be so disappointed in them, but that was okay. Right now, Rodney was too tired to live up to anyone’s expectations. So maybe it was time to live down to a few.


End file.
